Root Causes of the Conflict over Ukraine
The Ukrainian conflict is an element of the geopolitical confrontation between the West and Russia. In global understanding, it has resulted from the aggressive opposition of the United States and its satellites to the objective and natural processes towards a multipolar world order.
The urge of Western countries to harm Russia as one of the centers of the new just world order has evolved primarily into an attempt to create a “cordon sanitaire” of loyal states pursuing a Russophobic policy around our borders.
The West has deliberately ignored Russia’s security interests, undermined disarmament and arms control treaty systems, pursued a policy of consistent NATO enlargement eastward and engaging Ukraine in a Euro-Atlantic camp hostile to our country.
In 2014, an armed coup d’état was staged in Kiev with the active support of the US and the EU, bringing radical nationalist forces fully supervised by the West to power. Their task was to destroy a single historical, economic and spiritual space shared by Ukraine and Russia. Since 2014, the totalitarian regime in Kiev has been systematically violating human rights, including those of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine, planting Russophobia, massively falsifying history by glorifying Nazi war criminals of the Great Patriotic War period, and perpetrating aggression against civilians and Orthodox Church in the Donbass. Under the Western strategy, Ukraine is expected to join NATO, and the alliance is undertaking a large-scale military deployment in its territory. The country has been turned into a bridgehead to fight Russia and has become a serious threat to our security.
Role of the “Collective West” Countries
Today, Kiev is carrying out its military operations against Russia almost entirely at the expense of Western financial and military support. Since the beginning of the special military operation (SMO), the overall assistance amounted to more than 350 billion US dollars. Supplies of arms and military equipment to Ukraine are growing. Their nomenclature is constantly expanding. The Kiev regime is being equipped with increasingly destructive and lethal systems that include, inter alia, inhumane weapons (cluster munitions, depleted uranium shells) and various types of missiles. Washington has announced the supply of prohibited anti-personnel mines for the needs of the AFU.
Despite the fact that sensible elites in unfriendly countries increasingly realize the futility of financial injections into Ukraine and its inability to win on the battlefield, the US and its satellites continue to contribute in every possible way to further escalation of the conflict. They are actively investing in the training of the Ukrainian military, assisting in the recruitment of foreign mercenaries who flock to Ukraine from various “hot spots” around the world, and regularly sharing intelligence, including information from satellites and reconnaissance aircraft of NATO countries. In November 2024, Kiev was given permission to use Western long-range weapons (ATACMS, SCALP and Storm Shadow) to strike internationally recognized territory of Russia.
Amendments to Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine
The West is deliberately escalating the conflict. The Russian President’s Executive Order of 19 November 2024 amended Russia’s nuclear doctrine to expand the list of military threats to be neutralized by “means of nuclear deterrence.”
In response to the use of Western long-range weapons, on 21 November 2024 the Russian Armed Forces launched a combined strike on one of the largest sites of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, the Yuzhmash facility. The Oreshnik ballistic missile in its non-nuclear hypersonic configuration has been successfully tested in combat conditions.
Targets for engagement in further tests of our latest missile systems will be determined depending on the threats to Russia’s security. These targets may also include the military infrastructure of those states who allow their weapons to be used to strike our country.
As President Putin said, “it was not Russia, but the United States that destroyed the international security system. We have always preferred to resolve all disputes by peaceful means. But we are also ready for any scenarios that may occur.”
Settlement Prospects
Russia has never given up on a political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis, as it has repeatedly stated. Speaking at the Russian Foreign Ministry on 14 June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward concrete proposals to move towards a final settlement of the conflict. Their key points include withdrawal of Ukrainian armed formations from the new Russian regions, i.e. the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson; recognition of the new territorial realities; Kiev’s refusal to join NATO; lifting of all Western sanctions against Russia; and guarantee of full rights for Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine. In essence, what is being proposed is not a truce or ceasefire, as the West might prefer, to allow the Kiev regime to recover, rearm and prepare for a new offensive, nor a freeze on the conflict, but a definitive end thereto. The negotiation process should culminate with peace in Europe, a new system of regional security and non-confrontational relations between Russia and NATO.
However, both Kiev and the West keep thinking in terms of war. The Russian proposal for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict was met with an invasion of the Kursk region by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They act like the most brutal and despicable terrorists, shooting civilians, plundering Russian villages, attacking journalists, and threatening nuclear facilities.
The Kiev regime carries out terrorist attacks against civilian and social facilities in Russia, resulting in deaths and injuries. The failure on the part of Western countries and international organizations to condemn these unlawful actions contributes to their further expansion, and Ukrainian officials refer to the terrorist attacks aimed at killing unarmed civilians as a “legitimate, logical and effective step”. Given these circumstances, it does not make any sense to talk about opening negotiations with the Kiev regime.
Mediation Initiatives
Russia highly appreciates the efforts of the countries of the Global South to find a non-military solution to the conflict. China, Brazil, and a number of African States, including Zambia, have already demonstrated a deep understanding of the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict, its geopolitical significance, and the need to establish peace taking Russia’s interests into account. There are many rational provisions in their proposals that are supported by Moscow. These include adherence to international law, rejection of the Cold War mentality, indivisibility of security, and unacceptability of unilateral sanctions.
The inaugural meeting of the “Group of Friends of Peace” in Ukraine was held in New York on 27 September 2024, on the initiative of our Chinese and Brazilian partners. We note the sincerity of the Group’s founders in seeking to make a constructive contribution into a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation Ukraine. The second group meeting took place in December last year. Only time will tell what will come of it.
At the same time, it is extremely important that this work takes into account that the conflict cannot be resolved without addressing its root causes. First and foremost, what is meant here is that the US and its allies show their disregard for Russia’s security interests, which has been manifested in the expansion of NATO; Western-sponsored anti-constitutional armed coup in Kiev in 2014; Ukraine’s transformation into a battlefield against Russia; and the Kiev regime’s violation of the rights of ethnic Russians and the Russian-speaking population. A sustainable and lasting peace cannot be achieved without eradicating nationalism, Nazism, chauvinism, and abolishing all Russophobic laws in Ukraine.
It is also important for the Group to regard the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety, totality and interconnection. The territorial integrity of states cannot be looked at in isolation from the right of the peoples to self-determination, and from the protection of human rights, regardless of language and religion.
The President of the USA has declared his readiness to conduct negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation to put an end to the conflict. The Russian Federation is ready as well. It stands not for the temporary termination of the conflict but for achievement of the lasting peace in Eurasian continent, for the western written guarantees to take the Russian interests into account.
Azim Yarakhmedov
The Ambassador of the Russian Federation
in Republic of Zambia
